Yes, and you have too.
That was the same moment when we last saw The Commander without his shirt.
;)

P.S. I have officially decided (for myself anyway) that anytime I use the word “the” right before the word “Commander,” I shall henceforth Capitalize the “T” in “the” as well as the “C” in Commander. I liken it to be a similar level of respect as writing “The Batman.”

It’s a Gaelic fairytale creature that’s basically a seal that takes off its skin like a coat on land and becomes a human, there was a very charming animated children’s movie about them that came out last year called Song of the Sea.

This conversation reminded me of a webcomic I had read a while ago that begins, near the start of the story, with a boy watching a mysterious figure swimming in the sea: http://scarygoround.com/?date=20120130. It also turns out that she has an old pelt that someone picks up, and the story continues from there. The actual beginning of the story can be found here: http://scarygoround.com/?date=20120107 .

Selkies are a mythological creature tied to seals and the coast. A sort of shapeshifter, they are otherwise human women in appearance and use a seal pelt that is magically bound to them to change form into a seal. If a human got their hands on the pelt of a selkie, they could force the selkie to obey their whims, including forcing marriage. However, if they ever get their hands on their pelt again, they will automatically flee back to the sea.

Selkies have a strong tendency to be gentle, good, and often tragic characters. Maybe that makes them less interesting to people than more conflicted mythological creatures. (I’m a fan, though. Selkies are awesome.)

The strip is now in color and Angel is watching with IR. I guess we’ll never know.

But one of the raptors was an orange base with red top. I’d put that one in the center. Two have orange-white bases and orange tops. Calling “red” 3, I’d make them riders 2 and 4. The last two are white-pink bases with different pink tops. I’d have them on the outside, positions 1 and 5. But you could swap the orange tops for the pink tops. Or just be impressed by raptors riding mini-bikes.

I have to say I am thinking that Jet is the genetically engineered lovechild of Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage. Seriously how else would he have the know-how to make many little suits of armour from a single full plate sleeve and the insanity of putting raptors on mini-bikes.

I don’t know why, but seeing Angel with that boars’ skin hood over her head just immediately made me think of her as like a Female Ganondorf. Her having a similar resigned frustration at everybody’s shenanigans just makes it even stronger.

So why exactly DOES Tank have this beef with Commander? Is it simply because Rock is the next biggest and burliest after Tank himself? Is there some plot point in their past? And if the latter, will we get to see it drawn someday?

On the one hand, super macho types are all secretly monstrously insecure and act the way they do because they feel threatened. Tank might be the biggest and the strongest guy around, but he probably feels like Commander is generally better liked and gets treatly differently than he does – and to the macho mind of a wannabe “Alpha Male”, that reality is “unfair” and challenges his perceived status as top dog.

On the other hand, we know there’s a lot of history among all the super soldiers. Tank might well be pissed off about some past event we’ve yet to see. But even if so, odds are good it’s something mostly unjustified, given what we know of Tank himself. It might not even be something the Commander is aware of.

Wait, “Tank just needs to let that torch drop.” As in Tank’s been carrying a torch for Rock this whole time, as in he’s in love with him. (And he is literally incapable of processing or showing it due to hyper-masculinity problems).

That’s how I read that, too. (And if the hyper-masculinity issues weren’t enough, Rock is Tank’s sister’s (Spider’s) ex. Hoo boy. I feel bad for Tank while being immensely glad I never have to meet him and his issues in person.)

Ok, yeah, I see a few other people reaching the same conclusion, so I’m not crazy. Interesting that Rock’s oblivious, but it’s obvious to Angel (or Tank’s confided in in her at some point). Also: Walrus Seklies. XD

Well, the Commander is under the impression that Tank deliberately crosses up his own wiring (even mentioning it out loud earlier), so that might be a contributing factor to how badly Tank keeps clinging to the torch.

I have actually been posting a bunch of patreon-exclusive little interludes in the $1+ tier about what went down between them when they were younger. They aren’t necessary to read to get what’s going on in the main comic or anything, just things that are a little heavier in tone than what I want to post on the main site.

Hey! There’s an awesome pic of the Commander down here! How did I not know that!!!
You know, big burly guys are now awesome in my book. I mean I know you SHOULDN’T judge someone based off looks, but I just assumed they’d be…well big burly dudes. But the fact that you’ve got all of them being surprisingly interesting and occasionally cute kinda makes me want to glomp people 2 to 3 times my height and girth. Thanks for being awesome.

I love the squad’s rapid descent into silliness while committing to a patently absurd train of thought-style banter. Only on my best days of Internet chatting have I had that happen, and the thought of doing it with people you know and love in real life is amazing.